(fixed) Re: 8-STABLE interrupt storm on atapci(?), Dell Inspiron 580

[Jeremy Chadwick]

On Fri, Mar 12, 2010 at 08:27:59PM +0100, Pierre Beyssac wrote:
> On Fri, Mar 12, 2010 at 08:59:32PM +0200, Alexander Motin wrote:
> > Except ICH6 Intel uses separate IDs for AHCI and non-AHCI SATA
> > controller modes. So this flag is not completely correct. But probably
> > it shoudn't be just removed, as it is checked in other place. I know
> > about this and going to handle it later. It's not a problem now.
> 
> I was wondering exactly about that given the wording of the Intel
> document sent by Jeremy...
> 
> > > http://www.intel.com/Assets/PDF/specupdate/322170.pdf
> > Thanks.
> > PS: Check BIOS settings for enabling AHCI mode.
> 
> Problem is, I can't find any setting to do that, either it's not
> there or it's well hidden. The BIOS is up-to-date. Could it be
> possible for Dell to lock the chip in non-AHCI mode?

The system uses the Intel H57 (Ibex) chipset, which is documented here:
http://www.intel.com/Products/Desktop/Chipsets/H57/h57-overview.htm

The official datasheet is here (~4.4MBytes):
http://www.intel.com/Assets/PDF/datasheet/322169.pdf

Which does state AHCI is available, however Intel is known for making
separate SKUs (revisions/models with different tweaks to the chips) that
support different features.  Table 1.3 on the PDF outlines what the H57
is capable of:

Intel 5 Series Chipset SKUs (Desktop)

SKU Name   AHCI   RAID 0/1/5/10 Support
-----------------------------------------
Q57        Yes    Yes
H57        Yes    Yes    <====
H55        Yes    No
P55        Yes    Yes
-----------------------------------------

Intel 3400 Series Chipset SKUs (Server)

SKU Name   AHCI   RAID 0/1/5/10 Support
-----------------------------------------
3400       No     No
3420       Yes    Yes
3450       Yes    Yes
-----------------------------------------

Further within the documentation, it states that for eSATA hot-plug
to work, AHCI has to be enabled/in use.

That's about all I can discern from the PDF without getting into
technical specifics.

-- 
| Jeremy Chadwick                                   jdc at parodius.com |
| Parodius Networking                       http://www.parodius.com/ |
| UNIX Systems Administrator                  Mountain View, CA, USA |
| Making life hard for others since 1977.              PGP: 4BD6C0CB |